Abstract / Description of output
This essay traces a trajectory between the diminution of the radical objectives of second wave feminism and the rise of postfeminism in two contemporary novels by Scottish writers. Laura Hird's Born Free (1999) and Jenni Fagan's The Panopticon (2012) illustrate the shrinking of radical feminist ideals to a sexual revolution appropriated by the individualism, consumerism and competitive market-focused ideology which characterises neoliberal postfeminism and sustains misogynist social structures. Informed by critiques of postfeminism by commentators such as Angela McRobbie and Rosalind Gill, the essay finds Hird's end of century pessimistic vision of female defeat allayed to some extent in Fagan's gothic-tinged narrative of a marginalised outsider evading neo-patriarchal containment. The texts demonstrate a damaging disorientation in contemporary femininity produced by what McRobbie terms the postfeminist gender settlement.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 385-400 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Contemporary Women's Writing |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Early online date | 13 Aug 2015 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Nov 2015 |
Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)
- Feminism
- Postfeminism
- Laura Hird
- Jenni Fagan
